


mask slips

by weregarurumon



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 06:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11937819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weregarurumon/pseuds/weregarurumon
Summary: [MAJOR P5 SPOILERS]This was just one job, it’s over now. He’ll get over it. He’s gotten over it before.





	mask slips

**Author's Note:**

> i kind of wanted to write something about akechi being with the phantom thieves because he always looks like he's having so much fun in sae's palace especially in his AOA finish! i've been wondering if he really enjoyed that or was just lying but it LOOKS like real enjoyment to me so, y'know!
> 
> anyways the minor relationship is a lil akeshu it's mostly akechi being like ?!?!?!?! about his feelings towards akira ...

Goro Akechi doesn’t quite understand what it is about being with the Phantom Thieves that makes it so darn _fun_ to be with them. At first, he decided that it would be all business joining their team, pretend to secretly be on their side, and then kill their leader and put an end to this silly charade…

But now he’s having his doubts. _What’s happening to him?!_ And all of this after declaring himself their sworn enemy on live television, too!

The way they treat him is much too nice, he thinks.

Or maybe it’s because he’s never had anyone treat him this nicely that it makes him happy, but that’s besides the point. They trust him too much and treat him too nice, which is certainly better for his master plan, at least.

Do they really like him…? After everything he said about the Phantom Thieves?

What exactly is so nice about it, though? Maybe it’s the way Kurusu always puts him in battle, or maybe it’s the way everyone listens to what he has to say, or maybe it’s the fact that he’s working with a team -- a team of people who genuinely care about one another, a team of people his age. Maybe he’s tired of working for adults, tired of working for his father, tired of killing people’s cognitive selves just to get closer and closer to him.

He wonders about it more and more. It’s starting to interfere with his work, suddenly all he’s thinking about is Akira Kurusu and how happy battling along side the Phantom Thieves makes him.

He thinks constantly about the way everyone praises him when he tells them to go to the courtroom to open the new area, the way Kurusu’s hand feels when they do a baton pass, and the crammed back seat in the Morgana bus on a trip to Mementos…

* * *

 

That’s when the day comes, the day he’s going to have to betray them, huh?

Akechi braces himself. He was having so much fun and living in his thoughts that he almost forgot about his true mission.

_He’s going to have to do it._

Akira gets arrested. He sees him later at the police station.

_He’s going to have to do it._

He puts the gun to his former teammate’s (friend’s?!) head.

_He’s going to do it…_

There aren’t any regrets after that. This was just one job, it’s over now. He’ll get over it. He’s gotten over it before.

…He doesn’t get over it.

* * *

 

Akechi tries to put an end to them after that, just like he said he would. He tries, it ultimately doesn’t happen.

Akira comes back, much to his surprise. How clever that boy is. Of course he wouldn't go down that easily, hm? They tricked him, and they tricked him good.

He tries to take them on himself, he tries so hard, but it's ultimately a loss for him. He tries to tell them that he doesn't need them. He doesn't! He got so far without them, travelling palace after palace, killing their owners…

He realizes it's happened because he’s not working with a team anymore. He’s all alone. He's not the same Crow that fought alongside the Phantom Thieves. He's outnumbered, 8-1.

Somehow they still want to help him, it's baffling! He laughs. Why do they care about him so much? After everything he did to them, he ruined them, he made people hate them, he killed their leader, he killed Haru Okumura’s father, and yet… they’re trying to help him?

He refuses. What a ridiculous notion!

It's not long until things happen to him after that encounter, bad things, maybe things he deserves, he doesn't know. At least in his final moments… he thinks…

Maybe he really was glad to be a Phantom Thief.


End file.
